


Rule number 13

by AndromedaofOthys



Series: Diamond Heart AU [1]
Category: EXO (Band), K-pop, NU'EST, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Mob, Diamond Heart AU, Kinda, Multi, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 12:08:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17703998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaofOthys/pseuds/AndromedaofOthys
Summary: Alternate title: The easiest way to piss off Yoon Jeonghan.Diamond Hearthas a couple of rules that their patrons have to obey. One of them, however, decides to break them... and finds out exactly why Chan is off-limits.





	Rule number 13

**_Rule number 13:_ **

_**NEVER, EVER ASK FOR LEE CHAN.** _

* * *

 

 

“~ _Gashina, gashina_ ”, Chan belted out loud, swaying his hips from side to side as he carried the tray filled with _soju_ shots, bottle of wine and empty glasses to table 9. The night had barely started in _Diamond Heart_ , and the youngest waiter was already feeling Jihoon _hyung_ ’s playlist. The moment one of _hyungs_ comes to replace him for the shift, he was getting his ass on the dance floor and showing off his moves, Jeonghan _hyung_ ’s opinion be damned!

“Having fun, Channie?” Junhui shouted over the destructive bass, smirking as he left with table 7’s orders.

“Hell yeah! When’s the shift change?” Chan swayed a bit harder, wishing his hand was free to do Sunmi’s sexy dance justice. If the partons’ wolf-whistles and disappointed groans were any indication, they felt the same.

“In an hour! Kwannie and Dongho _hyung_ are covering!”

Chan fist-bumped the older of the Chinese duo and went to table 9, happily humming _Gashina_ ’s instrumental.

_Diamond Heart_ was an unusual establishment: located in Gangnam, not too far away from loud and rowdy clubs there, one would think it would go under with all the competition being bigger and more well-known. However, _Diamond Heart_ was more than just club/café – it was Seoul’s center of information and black market deals; and it not only survived, but thrived, growing bigger and more well known in the select social circles.

A joint venture between two failed idol trainees Kim Jonghyun and Choi Seungcheol, it eventually grew from a day café into a place where the highest-ranking echelons of Seoul underground could conduct deals and pay for information and favors, without need for guards. _Diamond Heart_ was a place for relaxation, night fun and peace on a neutral territory: Seungcheol and Jonghyun, or S.Coups and JR as they were now known, tolerated zero bullshit in their place, not hesitating to throw out people who harassed their waiters and entertainers or trying to start any funny business.

It helped that they had the backing of Zhang Yixing, one of the _scariest_ motherfuckers Chan had the pleasure of meeting, and Han Sungsoo, _Pledis Entertainment_ CEO and the holder of dirt on half the Korean elite. You don’t fuck with guys who can get you either poisoned on live TV with no one ever investigating it or all your skeletons exposed in tabloids with only a couple of phonecalls.

After serving the drinks and collecting table 2’s orders, Chan went to the bar and leaned back, waiting for Minhyun _hyung_ to get him the drinks and watching Jisoo _hyung_ and Seokmin _hyung_ croon into the mics, backed up by Mingyu _hyung’_ s rap. The trio rotated with Wonwoo _hyung_ , Seungkwan _hyung_ and Dongho _hyung_ as opening acts, singing both ballads and idol songs to get things heated up. After them, everyone had a free slot to show off, before the real fun started – Bumzu _hyung_ taking the DJ booth and heating up the atmosphere, turning _Diamond Heart_ into true night club and calling everyone to either bartending or hosting wealthier patrons.

Chan could rarely catch that free slot: Jeonghan _hyung_ , the overprotective shit that he was, was normally in charge of his schedule, and he always made sure to slam Chan’s first shift then. This time, however, Minki _hyung_ took over the schedules, and the gorgeous boy had no compuctions in letting Minghao, Chan, Junhui and Soonyoung have a free shift then.

_You guys literally set people on fire and make them drink more – I’m not letting that pass, Jeonghan’s bitchiness be damned,_ were Minki’s exact words.

“Doing that open slot tonight, Channie?” Minhyun asked idly, adding finishing touches to electric-blue drink and quickly mixing a large jar full of juice-vodka. Chan took the drinks away and reached for the glasses.

“Yup, Minki _hyung_ gave me a free shift then.”

“Hannie won’t be happy,” Minhyun snorted, tossing back his bleached-blond hair.

“He needs to get over it,” Chan wrinkled his nose and arranged everything on the tray to sit neatly. “I’m legal, and it’s not like I’m on the hosting list.”

“True,” Minhyun nodded. “All the best.”

“Thanks, _hyung_ ,” Chan smiled and went to serve table 2.

As he got closer, he felt a burning stare land on the small of his back. Chan was not unfamiliar with the sensation: _Diamond_ _Heart_ boys were all gorgeous on varying levels, and leering looks and cat-calls were part of the norm. As long as the rule of no harassing was obeyed, no one forbade the innocent ogling and daydreaming.

After all, everyone knew that you could always pay for the privilege of their company if the person was on the hosting list and currently not busy with bartending.

Chan, however, was off-limits: Jeonghan and Seungcheol absolutely refused to put their baby waiter on the hosting list, and Minki and Jonghyun agreed. Chan had to admit, he had nothing against that arrangement – waiting tables and occasionally dancing on the stage was all he was currently comfortable with. One day, he might ask Soonyoung or Minghao for training, but he was happy with what he had now. It wasn’t like he wasn’t paid well enough – he was easily covering the family house mortgage _and_ his own living, allowing his father to funnel most of his money into his mother’s therapy.

This time, however, the look didn’t recede after a few moments: it followed him to table 2, back to the bar, to table 9 and 13… it followed him for nearly an hour straight, and Chan was getting twitchy.

“Something wrong?” Dongho _hyung_ murmured, taking his tray and waiter apron.

“I think someone’s getting obsessed with me,” Chan confessed quickly, and Dongho twitched.

“Table?”

“One of Soonie _hyung_ ’s,” Chan shrugged. “I didn’t look at them, like Jeonghan _hyung_ said, so no idea which.”

“Good,” Dongho nodded. “I’ll swap with Jisoo and watch them. You go and do your thing. Have fun!”

“Thanks, will do!”

The routine of putting on makeup, stage clothes and stretching got Chan to relax and stop thinking so much about the creep. As the quarter rehearsed _Shh_ and _Jam Jam_ , two songs Jihoon had made just to challenge them, Chan let himself settle into the mindset of performer, like Jonghyun _hyung_ taught them all. Having former idol trainee as their teacher really helped them perfect their stage presence a lot.

However, nothing escaped Soonyoung’s attention, and just before Jihoon announced the slot for them he took Chan aside.

“What’s wrong, Channie?”

“It’s nothing _hyung_ , just a creep watching me,” Chan shrugged. “Dongho _hyung_ is taking care of him.”

“I see,” Soonyoung nodded. “Where?”

“One of your tables.”

“Oh, good!” Soonyoung smirked evilly. “Myungho, Junnie, change of plans – we’re going on the small stage.”

“Huh? Why?” Minghao blinked, stopping with his B-boying tricks he used to get himself hyped up. “I mean, I don’t mind, but why?”

“Chan’s got a creep sitting next to big one,” Soonyoung explained crispily, and Junhui whistled.

“Shite. Sure, no problem boss. Small stage, got it.”

In that moment, Jihoon called them out, and Chan put on a smirk everyone told him was sexy and went out, ready to set _Diamond Heart_ ’s partons’ hearts on fire.

* * *

  
“Creeper alert,” Dongho murmured to Jeonghan as he set two glasses and wine bottle in front of the man and Seungcheol. “Big stage, Chan.”

“Creeper alert for Channie?” Jeonghan perked up, eyes flashing with anger. “Where?”

“Don’t worry Hannie, I switched with Jisoo to get that table,” Dongho reassured the other boy. “I just thought you and Cheollie would like to know.”

“You’re a sweetheart, Dongho. And here I was wondering why Jisoo wasn’t serving us,” Seungcheol laughed, lounging in the booth. “Tell us if the thing crosses the line.”

Dongho laughed brightly and left the couple to themselves. Seungcheol smiled, noting just how angry his sweetheart was. Angry mama bear Jeonghan was an incredibly hot sight, and for the n-th time he wished they could properly adopt Chan. Alas, the boy was far too old, and resistant to the idea.

But maybe one day, if given right motivation…

“Cheollie, please hold me,” Jeonghan demanded. “Or I’ll go and kill that bastard in the slowest way possible.”

“Shh, love,” Seungcheol sing-sang, dragging the other into a tight embrace. “Chan is safe. See?” He pointed at the quartet dancing on the smaller, more forward stage. “Soonie switched them to small stage to get him away from the creep. And Dongho won’t let anything happen.”

“I guess,” Jeonghan pouted, shifting in Seungcheol’s embrace. “Wish Joshuji was here with us.”

“He still needs to work sometimes, Hannie,” Seungcheol placed a light kiss on Jeonghan’s cheek. “Besides, he’ll come once Bumzu takes the DJ booth, he promised. He’s not hosting tonight.”

“Good,” Jeonghan nodded. “Minki isn’t a total airhead.”

“Minki, an airhead?” Seungcheol threw his head back and cackled. “Are we talking about same Minki? The guy who can out-swindle even you?”

“He gave Channie that free shift,” Jeonghan huffed. “I don’t care - ”

“Love, Chan isn’t that much of a baby now,” Seungcheol soothed his prickly lover. “He can take care of himself, and he has so many _hyungs_ that care for him.”

Jeonghan had been the one to bring Chan in, the boy desperate for quick cash and a job that would utilize his years of being a dancer before he had to drop out. Chan brought out all the latent parental instincts in Jeonghan: he cuddled and smothered the boy, teaching him his little secrets about attracting customers and applying makeup to get the effect he wanted. He taught him how to pickpocket, to balance his family life and this job, and called his ‘his baby’ every chance he got.

Chan was complaining now, but back then he had soaked all that attention, desperate for positive encouragement, and Jeonghan had a hard time seeing Chan as anything other than shivering, reckless boy he had snagged before he could sell his body for money.

“Still… I worry, Cheollie,” Jeonghan sighed. “Is this how parents feel all the time?”

“I guess so,” Seungcheol shrugged. “When is Yixing- _ge_ coming?”

“He said he’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” Jeonghan checked his platinum watch. “He should be here any moment.”

“Goo-”

The rest of his sentence was swallowed by a large _crash_ of broken glass. One of the patrons had broken the glass jar – thankfully empty of whatever drink was in it – and was arguing with Dongho. Everyone went quiet, dancers stopping their dance, and Jihoon turned the volume of the music down enough for Seungcheol to hear what the argument was about.

“- was the best service in Seoul, let alone Gangnam, but I’m not seeing it!”

“Sir, I told you: we do have this service, but unless the person isn’t on the list - ” Dongho was trying to diffuse the tension but the portly, pale man was not calming down, only getting more and more wound up.

“I request one person, _one_ person that caught my attention, and you tell me he is not available? Why is he working here, then?!”

“We are not _brothel_ , _ahjussi_ ,” Dongho snarled, slamming his fists on the table and towering over the man. “Our waiters and entertainers do _not_ double as prostitutes, and not all of them are hosts since they aren’t trained for it! If you want a pretty boy, you have your choice between _half of our employees_!”

“ _He_ is the only one I want!”

“He’s off- _fucking_ -limits, which part did you _fail to understand?!_ ”

Seungcheol tensed. There were only three people that were universally referred as _off-limits_ : Minki, Jeonghan, and Chan. First two were only available for hosting of the most difficult customers, and Chan was completely off-limits, no exceptions.

Was this the guy Dongho gave them a creeper alert for? If he was…

“Dongho- _ya_ , what’s wrong?” Jonghyun walked out of his office, Minki and Aron hot on his heels. “Why’s Jihoon not playing music?”

“This guy requested a person who’s not on the list and isn’t letting it go, boss,” Dongho bowed to Jonghyun.

“I see.”

“You’re the head of this establishment?” the man demanded. “Well, I would like to lodge a complaint against you employee here – he told me a boy I requested for hosting isn’t available at all!”

“I understand,” Jonghyun said, icy calm. “Who did you wish for?”

“That pretty silver-haired dancer, uh... Lee Chan!”

Seungcheol had to hold Jeonghan down before the other rushed over to the man and spilled blood in their club.

“Sir, are you aware of the rules of _Diamond Heart_?” Jonghyun asked calmly, and Seungcheol gasped. Next to him, Jeonghan froze. If Jonghyun was bringing in rules… oh, this was getting good.

“Yes, yes, I read them!” the man waved the question away. “I fail to understand -”

“Tell me rule number 13, then,” Jonghyun smirked coldly, and suddenly Dongho and Soonyoung moved in sync, quickly restraining the man.

“Wha- what’s going on? Let me go!”

“Someone forgot the rules?” Zhang Yixing noted, entering the private and settling down across from Jeonghan. “Which one this time?”

“You don’t remember, eh?” Minki was the one smirking now. “Jihoon-ie, remind him of rule number 13.”

“ _Never, ever ask for Lee Chan,_ ” Jihoon said with relish over the speakers. “ _He’s fucking off-limits._ ”

“There you go,” Jonghyun shrugged, a picture of nonchalance. “And I think I don’t need to explain what happens to those who break the rules.”

“Nice handling,” Yixing nodded to Jonghyun and Seungcheol as Aron and Dongho quickly got the offender out of the club and away from everyone’s sight. “Need me to deal with him?”

“Nah, I’ll sic HoWoo on him,” Jeonghan’s smile was feral. “No one gets to do anything bad to my baby.”

“Overkill much? And don’t let him hear it, he’ll whine again,” Seunghceol laughed, and the three started talking about the expansion of _Diamond Heart._


End file.
